Friday, August 21, 2009

Fractured Images

When life imitates art, creating fractured images takes on a whole new meaning! Another trip to the ER, and another long distance care taking jaunt in one week's time. DD#2 fell while cleaning up after a camping weekend and fractured her foot. This agile, flexible, articulate and intelligent little bit of a young woman who successfully graduated with a double major and impossible work load ....ends up being done in by a wet rug.

And parallel to that this week, a friend is teaching our Monday community quilting group a new speedier method of working with fractured image quilts and large floral repeats. And each of us was searching high and low through our stash for large enough, spaced far apart enough and without diagonal repeats for our upcoming learning curves, folds, pins and cut-ups.

If it involves directions I'll be challenged, trust me. Leaving early in the morning and driving 2 hours south to my daughter's cabin in the woods outside of Eugene, another 40 minutes to a hospital and then back to her new little home again was all in the light of day.

But after helping her out with the final stages of clutter and displacement of belongings from her recent move, and getting her to the doctor 'to boot', had me driving home late at night in the dark forests of the farmland and mountains of outlying Eugene.

Seeing deer and other wildlife by the refracted glare of my oncoming lights created an astigmatized world of additional imagery and new perceptions under stress...bits and pieces of life, art, and nature all combined into one kaleidoscoped experience of a day.

And yes, I got lost....directions, mapping skills and cell phone coverage...all gone. I wandered in the wilderness for quite a while, but finally found my way back to civilization and the freeway north ;)

Now, if fractures will quickly heal, and quilts will magically fold themselves into all the right places, I just might get some sewing time in and finish some of my other projects before my youngest turns a whole year older ;)

It's not easy being stuck in one place when you wish you were somewhere else, not a good feeling going in circles and feeling lost and certainly no fun at all, when one feels helpless and at the mercy of the kindness of others when you truly want to be strong, independent and active!

Now, it's another trip on that freeway south this weekend to help the same daughter celebrate her birthday and send more healing energy into that 'basic black fashion statement' and smooth out all of the fractured folds back into a whole cloth piece of life all over again!

shown:quilt by one of our Monday group members and an image of DD's fractured foot. Two ways of dealing with the stress of a fractured image ;)

Frugal Friday tip:Look out for wet rugs, don't drive in new territory at night, and use large floral patters with vertical and not diagonal repeats ;)

7 comments:

Brokenness. The quilt. The way you pulled this all together is such soulful, spirit-filled writing. Talk about powerful healing, Michele. You just directed some significant energy through your gift of words.

Your daughter is so fortunate to have you for a Mom - and the other way around, too! What comes through gives me a feeling of shared respect and admiration. Very much a never ending circle. I guess that's the way it's supposed to be but not all girls have that with their Mom's. Anyway, that symbol, that circle is what I felt.

Glad you found your way out of the 'lostness' with a new perspective ... sometimes it seems life conspires to challenge every cell in our bodies yet somehow we muddle on ~ truly a miracle in and of itself.

Beautifully written, as always ~ blessings to you as you help others heal!

My heart goes out for your daughter. I broke my ankle in December and was limited to my bedroom for three months. I only recently have been able to wear some of my own shoes and have now put my casting boot in a storage closet... hoping to never have to see it again. I still have ten screws, three pins, and two plates, but at least I've regained my independence. I don't make a good patient.

I'm sorry to hear that your daughter broke her ankle! Hope she heals well. What a drive that must have been for you that evening...certainly not my favorite thing to do...not knowing where I am and in the dark! Glad you got safely home.

One just never knows what will show up on the horizon around the bend in the road, any road. Even those that look like cleaning up after camping.It seems the Universe has its own special method of slowing us down, and re-directing our thinking. You were very brave to risk driving in such an unknown at night. The sensation of "lost" is not lost on me, trust that! And apparently not on you either.I keep you both in my thoughts and prayers. Travel safe my friend. Big hugs, Finn